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In my humble opinion, it seems that San Diego has made some significant moves with cycling in the last few years. 2011 has seen an increase, in many things, cycling related. Some things are good (more riders, more involvment), somethings not so much (an LBS shutting it's doors due to lack of commuters). The SDCBC underwent a change in leadership, and the make up of it's board. The bike union has flourished, to an extent. Sharrows! All over! What do you want to see for 2012?

I want my favorite bike shop to stay in San Diego but that's not going to happen...

More sharrows would be nice. I have noticed that the vast majority of them so far seem to be on roads that are a single lane in each direction. There are a lot of multi-lane roads that need them badly such as India St between Laurel and Washington and several portions of the 101 through Solana Beach, Cardiff, Encinitas and Leucadia. Also parts of Pacific Highway through downtown (not sure if the speed limit is low enough -- speed limit needs to be less than 40mph according to the standards).

I would also like to see wider spread education. I would like to see bicycle safety education brought back to the public schools. Sharing the road with bicycles should be a mandatory part of driver's education. It would be nice to have a couple of test questions on the drivers test about it.

Maybe some PSA's and some way to get them on the air so that people actually see them? That could require money.

Get the police and D.A. to prosecute negligent driving, even if it doesn't involve mind altering substances?

Get the police to understand bicycle safety? Some of them already do but it would be nice if it were universal. The SDCBC seems to have made some progress on this front with SDPD this year which is awesome, but I get the impression that there is more work to be done.

All I want is the more than occasional recognition by the City Council (incl. Mayor, above all!) and City Traffic Engineering top brass that they consider cycling a viable alternative method of transportation.

Yes, Velo Cult is headed to Portland in January. We will always be able to help you from Portland and I have faith the culture will grow here and not just be a trend. Good news is I will be to contribute to the Portland thread here much more. I will always be a part of this forum though. Maybe not everyday but I will be here.

D'oh! I was hoping it was just a rumor, but when I heard it parroted by several people I thought something must be up! Our VeloCult San Diego wool jerseys are going to be collectors items. I'm wearing mine on the way home this afternoon. Now I'll have another reason to visit Portland again.

What?! Noooooooo!!! Just dropping by by chance and found out this bad news.

Velo Cult, you will be missed! Buying my Redline 925 from your shop back in the Birdrock days in 2007 changed my life. It turned me on the the doable world of bicycle commuting, and then later to the world of cycling in general. I slowly went from owning that Redline and an old, crappy mountain bike to a garage full of 6+ bikes and loads of parts at any given time. I regularly commuted distances people thought were crazy and participated in rides and races that I had never dreamed of before.

Side question - Are there still Velo Cult SD T-shirts available in the shop if I want a souvenir?

But to get the thread back on track... I'd like to see the sharrows come to PB. Is the idea of promoting responsible cycling there a dream? Oh, it is? Sorry. :)

Velo Cult:Yes, Velo Cult is headed to Portland in January. We will always be able to help you from Portland and I have faith the culture will grow here and not just be a trend. Good news is I will be to contribute to the Portland thread here much more. I will always be a part of this forum though. Maybe not everyday but I will be here.

evster:What?! Noooooooo!!! Just dropping by by chance and found out this bad news.

Velo Cult, you will be missed! Buying my Redline 925 from your shop back in the Birdrock days in 2007 changed my life. It turned me on the the doable world of bicycle commuting, and then later to the world of cycling in general. I slowly went from owning that Redline and an old, crappy mountain bike to a garage full of 6+ bikes and loads of parts at any given time. I regularly commuted distances people thought were crazy and participated in rides and races that I had never dreamed of before.

Side question - Are there still Velo Cult SD T-shirts available in the shop if I want a souvenir?

But to get the thread back on track... I'd like to see the sharrows come to PB. Is the idea of promoting responsible cycling there a dream? Oh, it is? Sorry. :)

Related...posted some comments to the UCSD public Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan Map asking for sharrows on LJ Shores all the way from both ends (I also posted that Gilman should be one lane each way with bike lanes for safety and absolutely no reason to have anything but bus pull-offs on campus, but one can only dream, as you say). I am hoping they can conjure some influence in the city's DOT to have this happen.

Gilman is a definite candidate for a "road diet," as is Kearny Villa Rd., and Ruffin Rd. In the space of two days on Ruffin within 200 meters of Calle Fortunada a cyclist and two pedestrians were hit by cars. District 6 (Zapf) needs to do something here to make Ruffin safer for non-motorized road users, and bike lanes are not enough.

wpstoll:Gilman is a definite candidate for a "road diet," as is Kearny Villa Rd., and Ruffin Rd. In the space of two days on Ruffin within 200 meters of Calle Fortunada a cyclist and two pedestrians were hit by cars. District 6 (Zapf) needs to do something here to make Ruffin safer for non-motorized road users, and bike lanes are not enough.

Velo Cult:Yes, Velo Cult is headed to Portland in January. We will always be able to help you from Portland and I have faith the culture will grow here and not just be a trend. Good news is I will be to contribute to the Portland thread here much more. I will always be a part of this forum though. Maybe not everyday but I will be here.

Why wait so long to tell us? Were you going to make a formal announcement to the forum? I don't see an announcement on the Velo Cult website either. Were you planning on slipping out in the middle of the night and perhaps leaving us a "Dear John" letter...

I'm only teasing... I suppose I shouldn't really care but honestly for some reason I'm having some abandonment issues here. LOL

Well I guess all that is left is to wish you the very best of luck and all the success in Portland! We will miss Velo Cult and the wealth of knowledge and know how the shop brought to San Diego. Cheers!

Thanks for the well wishes everybody. We are leaving with heavy hearts. There's so many people we will miss.

If you can't find certain things at local shops we will only be an e-mail or phone call away to get you the things you need as well.

We were planning to tell everybody a couple weeks before we closed which is just about now. We didn't want to come out too early and we didn't want to make too big a deal about it because we are planning a big promotional "bang" soon and didn't want to dilute it too much on the national scale just yet.

A few months ago a friend of my lady's told me about the store moving. Which is crazy because neither one even knew what "Velo Cult" was (her friend is not a cyclist) ... it was just a strange set of connections.

I decided NOT to share it, because I figured you would tell us the news when the time was right.

For 2012, I would like more peeps to step up and organize JOY RIDES. These are themed celebratory rides that are under 10 miles with a relaxed pace to support local establishments (like Mission Brewery, BLAH, eateries, dessert, and coffee places).

It wasn't local for me. It was a bit out of the way but it was so good that I made a point to go there for anything significant and sometimes some not so significant things. Got new fenders there on Wednesday and a new wheel and panniers last week. The shop deserved the high rating it got from Bicycling Magazine. It's something special. Why doesn't anything I like ever last?

I suspect I'll end up with the borg a fair bit now. They are the most convenient except maybe B+L which I don't like (very close to my daily commute route). I'll probably start doing more of the small stuff myself again too.